Robbery at Clarendon Park Post Office

Some time during Friday evening the Post Office at Clarendon Park was broken into and a sum approaching £20 taken from the till. The matter is in the hands of the police.

The Chronicle doesn’t report whether the thief was caught in the weeks after the robbery, but I did find out a few interesting things. The post office in 1888 was on Queens Road. It was run by Henry Scorror, “stationer and agent” (Wright’s 1888 Directory of Leicestershire) and his wife Catherine. Letters and parcels were collected on weekdays at 9.50am, 2.10pm, 3.30pm, 7pm and 8.20pm. By 1891, as the population of Clarendon Park increased, collections were also made on Sundays. The address was now 83 Queens Road – where the current post office also stands. It’s amazing how much longevity of service these Clarendon Park shops and businesses have seen!

In 1891 Henry Scorror lived at 39 Montague Road in 1891 with wife Catherine Burnet née Bethell, his children and servant. He died in Queens Road on 1st January 1893 aged just 39.

Catherine kept up the post office at 83 Queens Road, with the assistance of daughters Annie Burnet Scorror and Edith Dorothy Bethell Scorror, living in rooms above the shop. She was still sub-postmistress in 1916, but retired some time before 1925, when daughter Annie was in post (now as Mrs O’Connor). Catherine died 9th January 1936.

I’ll be visiting Leicestershire Records Office on Thursday to find out how long the Scorror/O’Connor family were in charge of Clarendon Park Post Office. The British Postal Archive will also be a port of call one of these days. And I must speak to the lovely chaps who run the post office today to see if they can tell me anything about its history. As always, half an hour of research brings up many more questions than answers! regards, Elizabeth.